If I tell you where we've already been, will you tell me where we should go next (in Europe with teenage boys)?

If your kids are not wild about art galleries and big cities, maybe Europe is not a good idea. You might have a good family trip whitewater rafting out West right in the US. Ask them what they would like. Taking reluctant teens on a trip they really don't want is a receipe for disaster.

Switzerland?

What about Scotland? Edinburgh Castle is really cool, then day trip out to Rob Roy country and all the castles nearby? Make sure they watch Rob Roy and Braveheart before they go to get them excited. You could even go to Loch Ness and get them a tour there and I don't think you'd find nicer coast than Skye.

Lauren, I'm really curious what about rileypenny's post made you decide her boys were "reluctant teens"? She specifically said "they loved our last trip....they love the coast and castles and Medieval Villages and history...." Geez, if you can't get that in Europe, where can you get it????

I'd vote for the UK, or Portugal and Spain.

Scotland was the first place that came to my mind too - your boys would certainly be able to get their fill of castles, history and coastline!

It sounds as though you already have a couple of Europhiles in the making - good for you!

I think Great Britain is an excellent choice. No dearth of military history there, and a wealth of other things of interest. How much time do you have, and how would you get about from place to place?

On a trip to England and Scotland a few years ago, my kids liked Warwick Castle, York, Hadrian's Wall, the Roman forts near the Wall, Alnwick Castle and rural Scotland (they didn't care for Edinburgh). Although they did not like London's crowded subway and traffic, they did enjoy the British Musuem and the Museum of Natural History. I would include in your itinerary a few days in London to see a few selected sites (your sons may like the underground strategy rooms from WWII - don't know the name right off hand) and then journey north. We threw in a few "Harry Potter" filming sites, too! If the weather is nice, you might want to include a few days at the beach on the east coast - Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay. There isn't much at Sherwood Forest for older kids, but it made a nice picnic spot on the road north.

Scotland 100% absolutely positively! Could not be a better fit for teenage boys - castles, outdoor activities, amazing scenery, islands, military history around every corner.

"underground strategy rooms from WWII - don't know the name right off hand"

This is the Cabinet War Rooms and I thought this was a fascinating place.

If you go to London the boys might like one of the ghost walks given by London Walks. My favorite thing was the closing ceremony of the Tower, known as the Ceremony of the Keys. The tickets are free but you need to request them well in advance and send a couple of International Reply Coupons to pay for the postage. From an historical standpoint this closing ceremony has been going on for over 700 years.

I'd second marigross's suggestion of Switzerland. While it may not have a coast it certainly has it's castles. My favorite places on earth usually have mountains associated with them. Fly into Venice, go through the Dolomites, then on into Switzerland and fly out of Zurich. A great museum with a lot of neat history of the Dolomite area is the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano which includes The Iceman.

In Dolomites/Alps you could go biking, hiking, white water rafting, etc...all with a European flair.

What about Germany and Austria? There certainly is no shortage of castles. My younger brother loved it! The towns are cute, the cities are interesting, and the scenery amazing. And since they like military history, you could visit the Nazi bunkers and documentation museum in Obersalzburg, near Berchtesgaden and Salzburg.

Tracy

My kids loved Edinburgh, and I highly suggest you visit them during the festivals in August such as the Fringe and the Tatoo. My kids too do not like big cities but they loved the merriment of Edinburgh during that time of year and they got to see a lot of shows for $5. I bought Tatoo tickets when they went on sale in December so we got the front row which the kids loved. We then took them to see Hadrian's wall, we toured yorkshire, did Shakespere County and the Cotswold and Bath. If you have kids who love castles and history, exploring Scottland and England would be ideal.

I second Germany. You can get a lot of military history there. And castles. The Rhine region is gorgeous.

I second Germany. You can get a lot of military history there. And castles. The Rhine region is gorgeous. Include a cruise down the Rhine visiting the little villages.

Another vote for Scotland--especially if you'll have a car. No shortage of castles, battle sites and friendly faces.

www.hereinfranklin.wordpress.com

Anywhere in Europe will fit the bill, but, herein Scotland, we Do do coast, castles, mediaeval and history quite well, tho' I say it myself as shouldn't

Sicily

I'd vote for England too. If they love military history, try to get down to Portsmouth to see the HMS Victory - it is quite a beautiful ship. There are some other ships & military-type museums in Portsmouth as well. We did it as a day-trip out of London.

Dover was another great day-trip out of London. There are some tunnels built into the famous White Cliffs of Dover that have some WWII history attached to them.

We also loved the Winston Churchill museum in London (as well as the rooms where he lived during WWII).

York would also be a good stop for some history, etc.

We also loved the Winston Churchill museum in London

Just to clarify, there are two different places - the Cabinet War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum, both of which get high marks (I've been to the CWR more than once, and think it's fantastic).

Great Britain will absolutely work. I second all the suggestions/comments about Scotland and would add a few days in the Borders and Northumberland (someone already mentioned Alnwick Castle) if they like castles, the coast and military history -- you're swimming in history wherever you turn there. If you are driving into Scotland you can easily visit Hadrian's Wall on you way to the Borders.

Edinburgh has a VERY different feel from the big cities you visited before-it might be more appealing to them. But you could certainly skip cities altogether and have a great time.

Scotland or Portugal. Our kids loved both and there is so much more to see than you realize!

We did something very similar to Marsha's trip when the boys were 10, 13, and 15 - and the boys loved it. We rented a car and slowly made our way up to Scotland, then took the train back to London from Edinburgh which was really fun. We also took a train down to the navy museum at Portsmouth, which I would highly recommend. Here's the website:http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/
The have the Victory, the Warrior, and another ship whose name I can't remember, great exhibits, plus you can do a boat tour of the harbor and see current Navy ships. Or at least you could....

These are the itineraries we took our two teenaged boys on: Munich/Rome; Paris/Normandy; Florence/Montalcino/Venice and Madrid/Seville/Malaga/Barce-lona. Each trip was 10-14 days and each provided some time for them to veg out, sit at a pool, etc as well as the sight seeing, museums, art, churches, etc. We started when they were 12 and 14; last trip they were 16 and 18.

teenage boys? Overnight ferries, hydrofoils, mountains, canyons, deserts, tropical gardens, active volcanoes, castles, sea, beaches, ghost towns, caves, night life, fishing, scuba, snorkling, sailing, cliff diving, temples, ancient ruins, cable cars, amazing architecture, medieval villages, godfather villages, breath taking views, FOOD!! festivals, trains, islands, hiking, archaeological museums ... that's just off the top of my head. Our kids LOVE Sicily!

Thanks, everyone. I was so happy to log on and find so many thoughtful responses and ideas. It sounds like an England/Scotland trip would be perfect, and I'm also going to look at a Germany/Switzerland option, then meet with the family. I think both would fit the bill nicely and it would be interesting to check out our Scottish, English and German roots. Did anyone actually spend the night in a castle in either of these places? Also, I'm wondering why no one mentioned Ireland. Last, would you recommend the English/Scottish itinerary in August for the weather and festivals, or do you think that all of the Europeans vacationing at that time will mean bigger crowds? Again, thanks for so much information.

August in Edinburgh is a VERY special case. The festivals/tattoo are amazing. But they are also the very busiest time of year in the city. The population of Edinburgh literally doubles during August. It isn't A festival - it is several festivals plus the International Military Tattoo. So - Edinburgh is not just crowded in August - it is CROWDED

So - if you do plan on visiting Edinburgh in August you need to plan very early - to both book your accommodations and to get you Tattoo tickets. Tickets go on sale early in the year and sell out quickly.

So - IF you can get organized and firm up your dates early on you can have a GREAT time in Edinburgh in August. But if you don't plan on attending the festivals/Tattoo - then you'll do better to travel inn June or July.

The rest of Scotland will not be anywhere as crowded as Edinburgh - but August is the busiest month just about month everywhere in Europe.

We took our sons (15 & 20) to Scotland and York for one week (along with 2 other weeks in England and France) and they enjoyed Scotland. We stayed in an apartment in Edinburgh (Apartment By Castle) and then took day trips to St. Andrews (ran on the beach like Chariots of Fire), Stirling (Braveheart) and Duone Castle (Monty Python movie). They really enjoyed all the history and castles. We used a BritRail pass. The train ride from Edinburgh to York is beautiful--right along the coast. If we had had more time I would have done Glasgow or gone further north.

Which area in Germany? There are zillions of castle hotels in Germany, many of them really spectacular. Please specify the area - maybe the region from where your ancestors came. Each region in Germany is attractive and has castles.

Rileypenny,

You asked why no one recommended Ireland, I definitely do!

My family with 3 teenaged boys travelled in France, England, and Ireland in June of 2007. My boys loved our trip and were fascinated by all of the different areas.

The castles and prehistoric sites in Ireland and England were a big hit. They also really enjoyed the Cabinet War Rooms Museum in London that others talked about.

I posted trip report that you can scan to see what they liked. Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/2y98ky.
the first part of our trip was Paris, Normandy and Mont St. Michel. The Ireland/England part begins with the entry of June 21st (entered 9/9/2007). I'm sorry, I haven't quite finished the final few days in London. One day when work/life slows down a little, I hope to get back to it and finish for my own sense of accomplishment.

We stayed at Langley Castle (www.langleycastle.com) near Hadrian's Wall. The boys loved it!

Yes, Edinburgh is great, Pitlorchy is lovely, can they Fish? Flying fishing is a great adventure. There are several WAR museums in Scotland, you can check our all the festival and other musuems at www.myweekin.net. Another consideration if you want to return to France is the Loire Valley, particularly if you like to cycle and fish but a big part of the Loire if chateau hopping so you might be a 'wee' bit tired of that. Of course you could always have an Australian Adventure? I'm from Sydney and well its a young person's town with way too much to do and mention here

Obviously in Europe any country will offer you castles, medieval villages and history not least military history. Many also offer beaches. Britain has the WEATHER as a big possibly negative factor (it's so unreliable and summers can be a washout, literally).
I'd go along with Germany +/- Austria and also Spain and Portugal. We've done quite a bit of all these with our son (now 15) over the years. He's also keen on history, all kinds of buildings (civil engineer in the making?) and also cities, but NOT art mueums)
Or what about somewhere not quite as obvious: the Baltic region. Adds a whole new chunk of history too, from the Hanseatic League through Imperial Russia to the USSR. We were there summer 2006 and spent 2 days each in Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and then a week in Stockholm (overnight ferry there from Riga). There's plenty more to add to that sketch itinerary if you want to cut down time in cities (and/or it is possible to add St Petersburg). Weather was fantastic too.
That same year we spent Easter week in Amsterdam (+ Delft and Leiden) and that was also a big hit. However no spectacular scenery on offer in either of those trips (I also tend to think hill-country and mountains are what make for that). For that as an element of it, Germany/Austria or Spain/Portugal (though southern Spain can get very hot in the summer, away from the coast).